Week 4

Liam · Cult Status

Week 4

Ash · Cult Status

Real Zaragoza manager Ashely Harris gave his reaction to the weekends results to the assembled press.

Press: You claimed a comfortable 2-0 win. Happy?
AH: Yes, there is still room for improvement but we played well and its all about getting the 3 points at the end of the day. We beat a decent side in Deportivo and this has moved us into the automatic places for promotion, but it is a tad early to be getting too excited! Its a long, difficult season and the demands on the players will be big, but at the moment were going well.

Press: Victor Moses scored and set up your other goal, he looks a real player?
AH: We knew what we were getting as he had immpressed towards the back end of last season and the early stages of this season so he was always going to be a real player at this level. He certainly made the difference today between a win and a draw. I spoke to Liam over the phone and he was very pleased with his performane and im sure there is more to come!

Press: You have made a new signing in Adam Prince. What will he bring?
AH: Well he's a player i know well as he was one of my players while i was Wigan manager so i know he's a sensible young lad and I of course know all about the talent he has. We paid £7.5m for him and he is a very good striker at the moment, he will only get better at the age of 20. He gives us a good mixture of youth and experience.
Me and the fans are looking forward to his debut this weekend, which funnily enough is against the club we signied him from, Cadiz.

Press: Thanks for your time.

Bluebird99 · Cult Status

Saints boss speaks ahead of Cup Clash

Press: Steve you have a tricky night ahead against Wigan?

SDE - Yeah they are a quality side and they have some quality players in there. We don't fear anyone though, why should we? We know we're massive under-dogs and like most situations like this, the pressure is firmly on the manager of Wigan.

Press: You've mentioned Ian Norris there, he's very new to the managerial scene. Does that make it that bit hard to judge how he will set his team out?

SDE - Well possibly if you were the type of manager that takes notice of those things. I like to set my team out and let the opposition manager worry how we are going to play.

Press: So will you be taking the game to Wigan?

SDE - We always do. You don't win games by defending. You win games by scoring goals and that's what my teams like to do. We know we run the risk of getting hammered with that Philosophy but it's a chance we're willing to take.

Press: More new faces this week Steve with Nathan Ellington leaving to join Lazio. How do these signings improve your team?

SDE - Well in a perfect world, Nathan would have stayed here but we live in the real world and we know that we want to bring the age of the squad down and by allowing Nathan to join Lazio, it allowed us to bring in an excellent young striker in Cisse. Joe O'Ceauill is a young Centre back that has joined from Arsenal. He's played a few Premiership games for the Gunners but knows he would have to move on if he's going to get regular football. The last signing is another young Centre Back in Nir Mantsur who despite being only 17 has shown great potential. Places at Real Madrid were very hard to come by so they decided to release him so you can imagine how happy we are to sign him up. We are starting to really forge a good team and hopefully over the next few weeks, we will be able to bring in one or two others that will help us push forward.

Tezza · Cult Status

Atalanta News

I was very fortunate to be able to get to interview Atalantas manager Terry Manifold this morning, before one of his extra training sessions which have been a feature of this years strategy.

Press. Happy with lasts night performance?

TM. Yes, I thought after Radovanovics first minute goal we were in for something special. We should have scored at least another two. The team selection last night was all about giving fringe players a game. so in that respect we did well.

Press. I know it is early, but, how do you assess the season so far?

TM. It is going alright. The earlier part of the fixture list always looked a little tough but the win against Ascoli was particularly enjoyable. Last week we just failed to hold on against Reggina but, playing them at home was never going to be easy. I dont think this league will be settled for a few weeks and then the consistent clubs will start to shine. Whether Atalanta is in that group we will have to wait and see. We should be, but this league is very difficult to get out of.

Press. What is your personal plan for the future?

TM. My main aim is to get Atalanta promoted. We reached the play-off last season and I am hoping that we can keep within striking distance all season, and pull it off this season.

Press. What if the plan falters?

TM. Not really thought about things not going to plan but, if I cant get Atalanta the success the fans here deserve, then I would have to consider allowing the chairman to bring in someone else. We will just take every game one at a time.
I must go there is work to do.

-- Edited by Tezza on Wednesday 12th of May 2010 07:57:45 AM

Football Academy · Cult Status

World Soccer: Cup Round 1 Review

The first match on the fixture list in of the night was the first upset in an unsettling night for the bigger clubs. Norwich of League One put out Championship Bristol City 2-1 after extra time. Norwich are expected to push for promotion again this season while Bristol have been punching above their weight for a number of seasons now despite remaining safe in the middle English league, but a late Oliveira goal was enough to send the home fans away with an upset under their belts.

The Mark Rollings revival stuttered on Tuesday night as they fell to higher division opposition. However a Bolton side much needing in rebuilding with little funds, was expected to struggle against Everton who were yet to concede this season in the league and despite having just 3 goals in 3 games, whose strike force had been publicly backed by their manager to start hitting form. Another 1 goal wasn't enough to beat Bolton who were 2-0 up before the hour mark and never looked in trouble after that. Everton will need to overcome the growing 1 goal curse if they are to achieve the expected promotion this season.

Portsmouth's woes increased as two consecutive relegations were compounded by defeat to lowly Leicester in the cup. A boring game erupted in the final minute as academy graduate Lee Cox grabbed a last gasp winner for his home side.

Aston Villa, expected to return to the Premiership at the end of the season, avoided an embarrassing result at home to Charlton thanks to a nervous penalty shoot out late in the evening. Villa rested a number of first choice players and it almost cost them as they failed in 120 minutes to break down a resilient but ultimately poor League One Charlton side. 3 shots on target in the whole match from either team summed up a dismal night in the Midlands.

AC Milan loanee Danny proved he is failing to live up to his massive price tag as yet again he failed to hit the target against League One opposition for Fulham. The game remained goaless with Fulham scraping past 5-4 on penalties.

The highlight of the Italian first round came with Reggina facing off against Ascoli. Both teams led by Welshmen, the game was open from the word go. Ascoli came from 2-0 in the first half to pull level then took the lead in extra time, but let it slip to a late Rubiato double putting Reggina through 4-3 in a dramatic match the fans of both teams will remember for some time. The closeness of the final result suggests the title race in Serie B could go down to the wire this season.

The only result close to being an upset in an otherwise comparatively dull first round in the Spanish Cup was Racing Santander playing host to Athletic Bilbao. Santander, one of the teams tipped for promotion this season struggled to break down their opposition which will no doubt increase the pressure on Newcombe's 'compact' English style of football and the lack of threat shown by ex-Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It was an extra time winner from 20 year old midfielder Piatti that stole the show in an otherwise evenly matched encounter on the pitch,

Safehands · Cult Status

"The only result close to being an upset in an otherwise comparatively dull first round in the Spanish Cup was Racing Santander playing host to Athletic Bilbao. Santander, one of the teams tipped for promotion this season struggled to break down their opposition which will no doubt increase the pressure on Newcombe's 'compact' English style of football and the lack of threat shown by ex-Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It was an extra time winner from 20 year old midfielder Piatti that stole the show in an otherwise evenly matched encounter on the pitch,"

Rich - Ibrahimovic didnt play? Unless something has gone seriously wrong with the teamsheets!

Fletch · Cult Status

Napoli Cup Exit

An experimental Napoli cup side exited the league cup last night at Empoli.

Manager Andy Fletcher had gambled on a new formation and a few fringe players and was last night in reflective mood.

"Obviously the development of our young players and the league status are our most important remits from the chairman, however its still disappointing we didnt create more than 6 chances throughout the game, unusually our scoring ratio was down and we will need to reflect that those that played should have perhaps been more ruthless in taking those chances."

"However, at the end of the day it is my responsibility and I picked the side and told them how they were going to set up, we are all disappointed to leave the cup early and miss out on the chance to put ourselves against the big boys from serie A"

-- Edited by Fletch on Wednesday 12th of May 2010 01:47:29 PM

-- Edited by Fletch on Wednesday 12th of May 2010 01:47:48 PM

Ash · Cult Status

Real Zaragoza manager Ashley Harris spoke of his dissapointment with the cup exit on penalties to Betis. He said:

"Were dissapointed that we went out as although we made a few changes we still put a team out that i thought was capable of winning the game. However Betis played well and in all reality once it went to penalties you might aswell toss a coin really. There were some positives to take from the game though as Adam Prince scored on his debut and we scored 3 goals overall which we havn't been able to achieve so far this season. I felt we had a good cup run in us and the fans always appreciate a good cup run, but ultimately it wasn't to be and this allow us to concentrate fully on promotion which when the season started was always are principle aim".

Liam · Cult Status

Liam Riste was caught in the stands following Real Zaragoza's cup loss to Real Betis on penalties.

Media: You came to watch your good friend Ash play in the cup; what was your take on his game?
LR: It was a tight game that could have gone either way, Zaragoza were more prolific in front of goal but penalties are a lottery!

Media: Victor Moses had a good game tonight, don't you agree?
LR: He continues to impress me. Another goal and assist, with a scored penalty! He is gelling well with the rest of the Zaragoza team and he is enjoying his football. He is improving with each game he is getting under his belt and this makes for good viewing. Working with Ash will be good for him.

Media: Zaragoza lost on penalties, what did you and Ash have to say after the game?
LR: Well he was hoping for a decent cup run, but the fact of the matter is, he wanted to draw me in the thrid round anyways so we could play each other. Now he is focussing on getting back to La Liga and winning the Segunda. Penalties are harsh but he wasn't too disheartened as he has many positives to take from the game which will boost him to glory.

I must shoot off now to join Ash at the bar. Cheers.

Bluebird99 · Cult Status

Southampton Pre-match press conference ( v Fulham)

Saints boss Steve Davies-Evans is joined by recent signings Joe O'Cearuill and Armand Traore ahead of this weeks game against Fulham.

Press: Steve we'll come to you first. After a defeat in the cup at the hands of Wigan, how hard has it been to pick your players up in training?

SDE - Well I'm blessed with a squad full of mature players. We could have done a couple of things better on Monday night but Wigan are a good side and they took their chances. We don't like losing and that's the first time this season so we want to make sure that it's the last for a while. Fulham are a decent side so we've been working hard all week in preperation.

Press: You've brought in four new central defenders in the past three weeks, clearly you felt defence wasn't tight enough?

SDE - Well when I joined, I didnt have one central defender so yeah, we needed to bring some in. I think that just over £4m on 4 centre backs these days shows pretty good business especially as they all have potential at this level.

Press: Joe, you've moved from Arsenal to be here. What was it that pursuaded you to be here?

Joe O'Cearuill: Well I needed games and when Jamie Walker came to Arsenal, he told me that I wasn't in his immediate plans. I appreciated his honesty so when Southampton came in for me, I knew I had the chance to play football. I knew the chairman [Simon Newcombe] as he brought me through at Arsenal and Steve has big plans for the club which I wanted to be part of.

Press: Armand, you too have dropped down divisions to be here. Steve has actually bought and sold you before, so what made you make the move from Derby?

A Traore: Well I got the call from my manager [Daniel Jenkins] to say that Southampton were after me. I was playing first team football there so I wasn't quite in the same boat as Joe. The club accepted the offer for me so I thought it would be rude not to hear what Southampton had to say. When I spoke to Steve [Davies-Evans] and what he had planned for the club then I was very excited and couldn't wai to sign.

Press: Steve, Are there anymore deals lined up for this week?

SDE - Well yes we are planning on letting Karamoko Cisse join Reggina in a deal that we feel will benefit our club. We had due to bring in Nacer Barazite but I had a message from the manager this morning stating that he could no longer do the deal. He's new to management so I wish him all the best but he will soon learn that if you pull out of deals at the eleventh hour, not that many people will want to deal with Celta Vigo. I'm sure he'll learn from it though. I know our Chairman wasn't too amused when he heard the news but then thats football for you. We moved quickly and we will be bringing in a third player from Reggina this week how may go out on loan for now to gain some playing time.

Spartikus47 · Cult Status

Rollings unfazed by lack of goals

After watching his side crash out of the cup this week manager Mark Rollings refused to be drawn on suggestions his strikers were coming under pressure to start scoring. The toffees have built early season success on a frugal defense after three straight clean sheets in the league. However at the other end the toffees have only scored three goals across those games, despite boasting an exciting front line.

"The challenge is there for them. Rafael Moura will move to Liverpool this week and clearly his head is already across the red half of the city as his performances this season have been unacceptable. However, we expect bigger things from Fernandao and Cristiano and they both have three games to show me it should be them who partners Jose Ramon Torres who will be joining from Manchester City."

Rollings then moved his focus onto the wider world of league one, and his perceptions of how it is developing.

"Leicester City will be strong. In fairness I am unsure as to how much control the manager has there but when you are handed talent like Giovanni Dos Santos then you expect success. There squad looks the strongest and the pressure has to be on them to show it! Elsewhere a few managers are building tidy sides. I think Southampton are looking like they may be a surprise package. We expect to be in the mix and I am sure with what I have planned we won't be far away!"

-- Edited by Spartikus47 on Friday 14th of May 2010 02:17:11 PM